The Inner Struggle for Dominance
by melness0128
Summary: A battle between good and evil rages inside of us everyday. Sometimes good wins. Sometimes evil wins. (A fantasy au staring angels and demons)


This was an original work that wrote for class but I reworked it into a fanfic just because ¯\\_(ツ)_/¯

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It's still dark when she first steps foot onto the battlefield, the sun just barely creeping over the horizon and penetrating the black sky with its orangey fingers. The air is damp and thick with an unearthly fog that swirls around her dress as she makes her way to the center of the field where she knows her adversary awaits. She can feel Paige's presence prickling across her skin like a million insects and she steels herself for the clash to come.

With a wave of her hand the fog around them parts and she is able to see Paige for the first time in what feels like a hundred years. She hasn't changed a bit; she's still wearing the same black hooded robe that obscures her face but she can see her brown eyes glowing with malevolence from beneath it. Paige's black hair falls in a static wave to her waist despite the wind currently ruffling her own blonde locks. When she speaks her power ripples through the air, her voice weighted and deep with the magic and wisdom amassed over the millennia of their existence.

"I knew you'd come Charlotte, never willing to let even one innocent slip through your dainty little fingers, but that's okay. I'm always ready for a fight and it's been awhile since I've fought anyone worth the time it takes me to send them to the afterlife. I do hope you won't disappoint me."

Charlotte takes a deep, steadying breath and spreads her arms wide, palms upturned towards the purple sky. "Make a move."

Paige doesn't waste any time quickly firing off three fireballs that Charlotte's just barely able to dodge, hot lines of flame close enough to burn through the fabric of her dress and singe the skin underneath. She sends out a lightning bolt of her own and it strikes Paige in the shoulder staggering her back a few steps and she looks down at the wound, skin charred and burned and she cackles. "You'll have to do better than that."

She fires off another series of fireballs that Charlotte has no hope of deflecting and instead she levitates in order to avoid them, hovering a few feet above the ground as the fireballs fly past where she'd been standing and explode in a wash of flame that ignites the trees lining the field. It's her first instinct to fly over and extinguish the fire before it gets out of control and her momentary lapse in judgement must have been exactly what Paige intended because in that split second of hesitation she releases another fireball that catches Charlotte square in the chest. It hits her with enough force to knock her out of the air and send her skidding halfway across the field, disturbing the dirt and leaving a great gash in the earth from the impact of her body. Her chest is a wall of burning pain that makes it impossible for her to catch her breath as she struggles to her knees, dirt and sweat dripping into her eyes and obscuring her vision. Paige is there, a menacing dark shadow that reaches down and wraps bony fingers around Charlotte's throat. Paige's grip is tight enough to crush her esophagus and effectively cuts off any oxygen she was fighting for as she lifts her off of her knees and up, up, up until her feet are no longer touching the ground. Her feet kick pitifully in their quest for purchase and she grabs at Paige's hand in a useless attempt to loosen her grip but it's becoming harder for her to move, her body screaming for the air it so desperately needs but she can't get away, Paige is too strong.

"Oh Charlotte, I really thought you'd put up more of a fight. After all the tales I've heard of your strength and your agility, your unshakable faith. I thought this would be a battle for the ages but I didn't even break a sweat, light one."

Her hands fall away from the one around her throat – she no longer has the strength to hold them up and her vision starts to go, slowly fading as the welcome call of death starts to pull her under. "You know," Paige's voice, seeming to almost whisper in her ear and making her skin crawl. "I heard that this one was your favorite, that out of all of your charges this one held a special place in your noble little heart. I can't wait to corrupt it."

 _No!_ There may come a time when she won't be able to protect one her charges, a time when she'll fail and be sent to the blissful shores of the hereafter but now was not that time. Using the last bit of her willpower she summoned a lightning bolt larger than any she'd ever conjured before. The clouds crackled with electricity as the bolt formed and then rocketed towards the ground in a flash of blue light before hitting Paige in the back. Paige's body goes stiff, the hand on Charlotte's throat tightening reflexively before releasing her and she falls to her knees, unable to support her own weight. She takes a ragged breath that scrapes over her raw throat like sandpaper but she doesn't think she's ever tasted anything sweeter, the air that fills her lungs and replenishes her body like ambrosia on her tongue. Paige's glowing eyes flare impossibly brighter as she stumbles back a few steps before collapsing onto the ground with a heavy thud.

Charlotte gains her feet slowly, her body aching with her every move as she makes her way over to Paige's still smoking body. Her hood has fallen away and for the first time in the eons they've been at war she's able to see Paige's face. Her skin is pale and smooth, her high cheekbones and darkly lacquered lips giving her an almost regal look. She could almost be beautiful if it wasn't for the hatred shining in her eyes. Paige's chest is a bloody mess from the through and through wound of the lightning bolt and Charlotte can see the glistening white edges of her shattered ribs, the ribbons of her shredded tissues and behind that the twisted, quivering abomination of her heart, corrupted by hate and revenge and jealousy and _evil_.

"You think you've won Charlotte baby," blood is gurgling in her throat, filling her mouth and leaking out of the corners of her lips, making it difficult for her to speak. "But I'll be back. I'll take this one from you and when I do it'll all be over, everything you've ever worked for, everything you've ever defended, it'll all be over."

She stares down at Paige in pity as she summons all of her power into her right hand, filling it with a warm white light as she goes to her knees beside her worst enemy. Charlotte plunges her hand into the cavity that used to be Paige's chest, grabbing the fleshy blob that passes for her heart and she squeezes, squeezes until it's nothing but dust in her palm and as the realization of her death dawns on her Paige screams, a high bloodcurdling wail as her body explodes into a million shimmering pieces.

"You'll never have Becky…"

 _Becky…_

 _Becky…_

"Becky! Becky put the gun down okay, let's talk about this." It's Finn's panicked voice reverberating in her head. Finn with one hand clutching the sheet to his waist and the other outstretched towards her as he pleads with her to be reasonable. Finn, her husband of five years that she'd just walked in on fucking her best friend. Finn who now had the barrel of a .44 aimed square at his chest. She could shoot him sure, shoot Nattie too but then what kind of person would that make her? Worse than them no doubt and so she swallows her anger and her hurt and her pride and looks her husband dead in the eyes.

"I want you out of my house and I want you out of my life but I want you to remember how differently this night could have gone if I'd been a different woman." She shifts her aim a little and fires one shot just above his left shoulder, leaving a fist sized hole in the wall behind him.

"Get. Out."

They didn't have to be told twice, without even grabbing their clothes they both take off through the house like they're being chased by the devil himself, slamming the front door behind them. A few seconds later she hears the roar of an engine firing to life and the squeal of tires as they tear out of her driveway and out of her life.

 **End**

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 **A/N:** If you made it this far I applaud you. If you liked it why not let me know?


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